OUR MISSION

To educate scholars of, and contributors to, a sustainable world, through an interdisciplinary curriculum that emphasizes entrepreneurial thinking and environmental, social, and economic sustainability.

Directory

Dr. Varner has extensive pedagogical experience, technical expertise, and a strong commitment and desire to serve the SNC community (including both traditional students and the online learning community). Dr. Varner has taught both face-to-face courses and online courses at the graduate and undergraduate level for over seven years. Dr. Varner also has extensive experience in the development of coursework, focusing on active-learning and critical thinking.

Dr. Alan Walker brings over thirty years of progressively responsible teaching, administrative, and leadership experience in post-secondary education. He served as the President of Upper Iowa University for eight years, and most recently as Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Shawnee State University (Ohio).

Over the course of his career, Dr. Walker has gained expertise across a broad array of functional areas: the implementation of strategic plans, including identification and acquisition of the necessary resources; enrollment management; financial management and strategic resource allocation; fundraising; curriculum development and delivery system design; and global business development.

While at Upper Iowa University – a masters degree-granting, private, independent, nonprofit university with an annual enrollment of 6,000 students and 750 full and part-time faculty and staff – Dr. Walker was responsible for the operation of the principal residential campus, online programs, and twenty centers across the U.S. as well as in Hong Kong and Malaysia. The University offered 40 majors, 64 minors, 5 pre-professional programs, and 4 graduate-level programs. During his tenure as President, he oversaw a $70 million capital construction program, opened five new academic extension centers, increased enrollment on the principal campus by 48%, added eleven new majors, doubled the full-time faculty, and established both the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and the Honors Program.

While serving as Interim Provost as Shawnee State University, he was responsible for a budget of approximately $25 million as well as 146 full-time and 175 part-time faculty members. He provided leadership for the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Professional Studies, University College, the Library, the Registrar’s Office, the Graduate Center, Grants, Instructional Technology, the Center for International Programs and Activities, the Teaching Learning Center, the Women’s Center, the Honors Program, the General Education Program, and Distance Learning.

Earlier in his career, Dr. Walker served as the Vice Provost for Extended University Programs at Western Michigan University; Director of the Fire and Emergency Training Institute at Louisiana State University; Director, Fire Service Training, Division of Continuing Education at the University of Kansas; and Director of Fire Service Training at the Idaho State Division of Vocational Education.

Alan Walker and his wife of 30 years, Debbie, are avid outdoor enthusiasts who enjoy cycling, skiing, camping, backpacking, and sailing; they are excited to become a part of the active lifestyle at Lake Tahoe. Debbie grew up in Washington State and Alan has family in Idaho; they both look forward to being close to friends and family in the western region. They have one daughter, Emily, who is a junior in college.

BA Physiology and Cell Biology, University of California at Santa Barbara

Doctorate of Naturopathic Medicine, Bastyr University in Seattle

Walker is a licensed naturopathic doctor with specialized training in integrative cancer care. She sees herself as the bridge between conventional cancer treatment and natural cancer support through the rational, safe, and evidence-based application of naturopathic medicine in the oncology setting. She spends part of her time seeing patients in private practice in Walnut Creek, California. She completed a two year integrative oncology residency in (2006-2008) at Cancer Treatment Centers of America – Midwestern Regional Medical Center in greater Chicago, IL. In her residency, Dr. Walker worked closely with both conventional oncologists and naturopathic doctors to provide naturopathic care for patients concurrently receiving medical, surgical, and radiation oncology treatment. She also completed clinical rotations in medical and radiation oncology, gynecological oncology, radiology, internal medicine, gastroenterology and emergency medicine and provided naturopathic wellness care for hospital staff.

When she is not hard at work, Dr. Walker is hard at play in the outdoors. She is an avid snowsports enthusiast and although she enjoys skiing in the resorts, her preference is to be “earning her turns” in the backcountry. During the summer months, Dr. Walker enjoys spending her free time rockclimbing. She also likes to hike, bike, water ski and dance.

Patti Wamsley serves as a Performance Zone Instructional Coach, Project Facilitator for the Clark County School District in Las Vegas, Nevada. She has attended the University of California Los Angeles, University of California Riverside, Western Michigan University, and Central Michigan University graduate schools, where she studied brain research for language acquisition and literacy development.

Dr. Weintraub has over a decade of experience in education as a second grade, fifth grade, and special education teacher. He has taught students with emotional disturbance, Down syndrome, intellectual disability, and autism. He currently works for the Clark County School District as a resource teacher, in addition to teaching at both the University of Phoenix and National University. Dr. Weintraub has taught a wide range of courses, including Introduction to Teaching, History & Social Science, Curriculum and Instruction II: Mathematics and Science, Fluency in Reading, Arts Health, PE, and Development and Learning.

Laura Wetherington’s first book, A Map Predetermined and Chance (Fence Books 2011), was selected by C.S. Giscombe for the 2010 National Poetry Series. The Brooklyn Rail called the book “humble, folksy, romantic, tough, inventive, and not over-programmed.” She has published three chapbooks: Dick Erasures (Red Ceilings Press 2011), the collaboratively written at the intersection of 3 (Dancing Girl Press 2014), and Grief Is the Only Thing That Flies (Bateau Press 2018), which Arielle Greenberg selected for the Keel Chapbook Contest.

Her poetry appears in Narrative, Michigan Quarterly Review, Colorado Review, FENCE, VOLT, and Anomaly (Drunken Boat), among others, and in two anthologies, The Sonnets: Translating and Rewriting Shakespeare (Nightboat Books 2012), and 60 Morning Talks (Ugly Duckling Presse 2014). Her essays and book reviews have appeared in The Volta, Hyperallergic, Full Stop, Jacket2, and 1508.

With Hannah Ensor, Wetherington co-edits textsound.org, an online journal of experimental poetry and sound. Poets & Writers named textsound an “indie innovator,” one of a small group of “groundbreaking presses and magazines that are redrawing the publishing map”. She taught publishing classes as the faculty advisor for the Sierra Nevada Review for four years. In 2014 she joined Baobab Press as their Poetry Editor.

Wetherington is a graduate of University of Michigan’s MFA program, UC Berkeley’s Undergraduate English Department, and Cabrillo College. She has taught for the French Ministry of Education, the University of Michigan, the New England Literature Program, Eastern Michigan University, and the Nevada Arts Council’s writers in the schools program. She currently teaches in SNC Tahoe’s low-residency MFA program. Recent grants include 2017 & 2015 Artist Fellowships in Literary Arts from the Nevada Arts Council, and a 2014 Artist Grant in Literature from the Sierra Arts Foundation. She has attended residencies at the Vermont Studio Center and Camac.

Christine has over forty years of teaching experience at the middle school and high school levels. She has taught in the areas of earth science, biological science, environmental science, and physical science. Christine has also provided staff development in the sciences for the Carson City School District. She has experience in teaching teachers through the Raggio Research Center for STEM Education at the University of Nevada Reno through NERDS (Nevada Educators Really Doing Science). The NERDS program gave practicing teachers field experiences for almost twenty years, taking teachers into the field for hands on learning in science.

Amanda draws on her wide variety of experiences to inspire and empower students to be the change they wish to see in the world.

Her professional experiences include conducting greenhouse gas inventories, analyzing hundreds of climate action plans, and starting a sustainable consulting business, Zenith Sustainable Consulting. She presented on sustainability and mindset at the CA League of Cities’ Planning Commissioner Academy and contributed to the University of Oregon’s climate action plan update. Amanda also interned with the Alta Environmental Center at Alta Ski Area.

She currently works at Tahoe Expedition Academy as an administrator and substitute teacher. She is a member of Sierra CAMP (Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Partnership). In winter, Amanda coaches the Telemark Team at Alpine Meadows. In summer, she enjoys spending time in the woods and running long distances in the mountains.

Christin graduated from Colorado State University with her BA in Language, Literature and Culture in Spanish as well as her BSBA in Computer Information Systems. She is a long time Tahoe resident and has worked for a number of years in customer service.

A lifelong entrepreneur, Rick Winfield began his career in the early days of the “dot-com boom,” gaining experience working for small entrepreneurial ventures, large companies (including Microsoft and AT&T), and venture funded startups.

Rick escaped to Mexico as the dot-com bubble burst and came back inspired to start his own venture. In 2001, he founded ComputerTrainingSchools.com, a pioneer in the .edu lead generation space. He bootstrapped the company and grew it until successful acquisition. Rick also co-founded Veskritec, Inc., an early venture accelerator.

Inspired by working with young entrepreneurs and a long-time advocate of what has become known as the “lean startup” methodology, Rick returned to school in 2012 to earn his MBA (studying with the grandfather of lean startup, Steve Blank).

Rick began teaching as an Adjunct Professor at Sierra Nevada College and the University of Nevada-Reno in 2014. He joined SNC full-time in the Fall of 2015. While Rick’s primary focus is entrepreneurship, he also teaches classes in marketing and finance.

In addition to teaching, Rick is an active angel investor and startup mentor who has lived in the Reno/Tahoe area for over ten years. An accomplished adventure skier, he has skied deep powder, steep couloirs, and big volcanoes on all seven of the world’s continents.